


Before The Fall

by Hekate1308



Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-31
Updated: 2019-07-31
Packaged: 2020-07-27 22:44:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20053756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hekate1308/pseuds/Hekate1308
Summary: Their name was Jophiel, and they were beautiful.They created beautiful things, so they were beautiful. At least that was Aziraphale’s opinion.





	Before The Fall

**Author's Note:**

> I have no excuse for this. Enjoy!

Their name was Jophiel, and they were beautiful.

They created beautiful things, so they were beautiful. At least that was Aziraphale’s opinion. They weren’t quite sure they were supposed to have opinions, but then everything was still so new. The Almighty had only created them such a short time ago, and was now working on something called earth. Aziraphale already knew that he would be pout in charge of the plants in a garden called Eden.

Meanwhile, Jophiel had been tasked with creating _stars_.

Currently, they were building a beautiful nebula, blue and green and purple mists swirling together, a sign in Heaven for all to see and remember that She had made them and She was good.

And then Jophiel began to sing as they worked, and later, after he had been given a body, Aziraphale would think that, if he’d already been issued one then, tears would have risen in his eyes, for the song of the angel Jophiel was a miracle, praising the Almighty Herself and all of creation, Heaven and what was yet to come, and even the very work they were currently busy with, and the love Jophiel felt for what they were doing could be felt in every tone.

It truly was a remarkable day, and there really had been only remarkable days so far.

Aziraphale smiled and looked down at the seeds the Almighty had bestowed on them. When they were working on the grounds, maybe they would sing too. Or maybe not.

They didn’t think they could sound as wonderful as Jophiel did.

Jophiel was oblivious to Aziraphale’s admiration – too focused on the nebula and the space around them and their song; but Aziraphale didn’t need them to know. It was enough to listen and watch and experience.

This, they felt, was why God had decided to create everything. So that the praises of the angels could be heard as they admired the beauty of what they saw.

* * *

It wasn’t just the one nebula. Jophiel kept themselves busy in the time that came, building star upon star, big stars and small stars, bright and dull ones, ones that would one day probably be visited by God’s next creation, and others that were too far away.

Azirphale loved watching them. They didn’t think Jophiel would have been bothered by their attention even if they had known; they took too obvious, too happy a pleasure in their task, and would probably have been glad to realize that someone else felt the same.

Still Aziraphale didn’t seek an introduction. It would have been a shame to interrupt them.

* * *

Jophiel wasn’t the only angel in charge of the stars, of course. There were others.

But none showed so much creativity (it was fitting, Aziraphale knew that – but what did it matter? He was ready to believe that Jophiel would have been the best at putting stars into the sky even without being the angel of beauty) as they did. None so openly loved the stars they helped make, and none ever sang as loudly or as melodiously as Jophiel.

* * *

The twin star Jophiel was now creating didn’t have a name yet. Aziraphale wondered if perhaps God Herself would allow them to name it as a reward for their good work. They would deserve it.

They watched from afar and thought that they’d like to visit the place one day. Maye they could ask Jophiel to show them, if they ever found the courage to speak to them.

They later learned it had been christened by the Almighty after all – Alpha Centauri. And what a wonderful name it was.

* * *

Aziraphale was learning all about plants. The garden was going to be beautiful, he would make certain of that; a garden full of flowers of all colours, reflecting the Heavens and Jophiel’s stars on earth, for such was the new place to be called.

Maybe, they thought shyly, once they were done in the garden, they could show it to Jophiel – and then they could talk. Maybe they might even sing together, to praise God and the work they had done.

That would be nice.

* * *

It was not to be.

Aziraphale didn’t understand. Everything had been going well, everyone had been working, everyone had been satisfied; and then, quite suddenly, Lucifer had committed treason.

And now here they were, on the battlefield, their newly-formed body grasping the flaming sword God had declared they should carry.

Of one thing, Aziraphale had immediately been sure.

They were not a fighter. They loved God, and her creations, and they wished to help bring more of them into this new world that had been created, and instead…

Two angels fighting rushed past them; they thought they could distinguish Gabriel, his eyes ablaze with the glory of war, and shuddered.

They couldn’t see Jophiel. Were they fighting to protect their beautiful work? Circling around Alpha Centauri or the nebula, desperate to save it from destruction through their own brethren?

This was wrong. Everything was wrong. Aziraphale flew through the Heavens, trying zo make sense of it all; how could someone like God, who was so full of love and goodness, let this happen? It didn’t make sense.

They were praying, desperately praying, for something to happen.

And then it did.

Across the millennia that would follow, Aziraphale would never forgive himself their prayer that day. Maybe God had thought she was doing them a favour, maybe this was her way to answer –

But no, they would always tell themselves, it must all have been part of the Ineffable Plan from the start. And yet – why – why make this plan to begin with? Why have them fall, why –

They wouldn’t ponder the questions often, and when they did, it would mostly be to avoid thinking about something else they had witnessed that day.

Aziraphale was hiding. They knew they could be accused of being cowards, but they would rather be called that than fight against their own brethren.

And then they noticed something else. As more and more fighting angels passed them by, they saw but did not understand why some of their wings were turning black. Others stayed like his, but those who seemed to be fighting for Lucifer were slowly but surely given black wings unlike the pure white God had created them with, but why would –

And then they heard screams. They seemed to be coming from the direction of Alpha Centauri, and Azirpahle took off without meaning to, without even knowing that they would move until they were already flying as fast as they could.

They had been right. Jophiel was trying to protect the stars.

Aziraphale hesitated; should he help them? They had never spoken, they didn’t even know if Jophiel was aware of their existence, and maybe they would think they were – they were an enemy…

Jophiel turned their ack to them in order to shoo another angel away from Alpha Centauri, and the breath Aziraphale didn’t need caught in their throat.

Jophiel’s wings had black patches on them.

Nut – it couldn’t be. Certainly someone like Jophiel would not rebel, would not agree with the likes of Lucifer.

_They are protecting the stars, _everything in Aziraphale cried out. Protecting _them. He’s not trying to fight, please God, have mercy, you have to know – _

And then the rebels fell.

Jophiel’s wings turned black, the black of the deepest night, the black of the darkness he had put the stars into, and then they burned.

And all across Heaven, there were screams and curses and yells as the rebels realized what was happening to them, as they felt the pain, as their Grace shifted and changed and burned away.

And then Jophiel fell down, burning black feathers trailing behind them, and they were screaming in a terrible and mocking imitation of their beautiful song as they had created the nebula, and only later would Aziraphale realized that they had been screaming, too.

* * *

Work in Eden was as pleasant and fulfilling a task as Aziraphale had always imagined it would be.

And yet there was something missing.

They tended the plans, they made them grow and flourish, and – _he_ got used to his new body, how things felt, how it worked.

And yet there was something missing.

He found the answer on that first night on earth. He was standing in the middle of the garden, looking at the small seedlings who were already growing, and then he caught a glimpse of a reflection in a stream nearby.

It was the moon.

And Aziraphale looked up and saw it all – the moon, the stars, the other planets.

The nebula.

Alpha Centauri.

He had so hoped to show Jophiel his work one day and comment him on his own, and now that would never happen. Jophiel had fallen, he was burning in Hell, for disobeying God, and Aziraphale shouldn’t even be thinking of him.

He had never even managed to get a good close look at the body he’d been issued. He only knew it was like his.

Was he regretting it – rebelling, following Lucifer – as he lay in Hell, his Grace ripped out, his wings black and charred? Surely, he must be. And certainly, if he regretted it enough, if he prayed for forgiveness, She would –

But no. There was to be no forgiveness for demons, it had been declared. Gabriel had explained that this was the only right thing to do – that they were now their hereditary enemies, and that they were destined to fight them until the end of time, when Heaven would win once and for all.

Aziraphale didn’t want to fight demons.

And he didn’t want to fight Jophiel.

No; not Jophiel. None of those who had fallen, except for Lucifer so his name would always be known as the Evil One, had lost their angel names. Jophiel was just a memory now, a memory of an angel who had created beauty and fallen trying to shield it from the destruction going on around him.

And yet he must have done something. After all, God was just.

He and Aziraphale would never meet now. They would never talk of their work, they would never sing together.

Aziraphale looked up in the skies and wondered if this was what it felt like to cry.

* * *

It should have been an easy task. It was an easy task – guard the Eastern Gate and keep an eye on the Apple tree.

The Apple tree had not been planted by Aziraphale. God herself had created it and put it in the middle of Garden Eden to – test the humans? He believed so, but he couldn’t be sure.

Still – he was on apple tree duty.

And then the serpent came.

He’d heard rumours about the serpent but had dismissed them. There was nothing in Eden that could harm the humans.

Except, as it turned out, for one thing.

* * *

Aziraphale watched Adam and Eve leave the garden, hoping that his sword would bring him some comfort.

The last thing he expected was the serpent to slither up to him and show him his corporeal form.

He would never know how he knew, but one look at the demon and he felt certain.

Jophiel.

Jophiel, who had soared through the heavens and created stars, had been turned into a serpent trailing the ground. Crawley. He even called himself Crawley.

There was a lump in Aziraphale’s throat. Were they supposed to fight now?

But Crawley was perfectly cordial, even if he joked about Aziraphale having done the wrong thing. So apparently they were not going to fight.

Neither were they going to talk like Azirpahale had once dreamed they would.

_Does he remember?_ he wondered, looking into Crawly’s reptile eyes. _Does he remember that he used to fly higher than any other angel, does he remember Alpha Centauri, does he remember his songs?_

He didn’t know, and he couldn’t ask.

And even as he laughed with the demon called Crawly who had once been an angel named Jophiel, unbeknownst to Aziraphale, he was the first being on earth to experience heartbreak.


End file.
